Chobani and Cornell CALS’ Nutrient Management Spear Program (NMSP) began a partnership in 2020 seeking to develop, test, and incentivize use of sustainability indicators for dairy farms. Recently, NMSP and PRO-DAIRY interns had the opportunity to tour the Chobani plant in New Berlin, New York. Read on to see what they learned about Chobani’s production process, values, community engagement efforts, and sustainability mission.
Chobani’s New Berlin plant prioritizes producing milk-based Greek-style yogurts and locally sources millions of pounds of milk per week from over 600 dairy farms. Donning personal protective equipment, Cornell CALS’ Nutrient Management Spear Program interns toured this plant on June 29, 2023 to see firsthand how yogurt is produced, from cow to cup.
Isaac Adams, Chobani training manager, and Roberta Osborne, Chobani director of farms and sustainability, led the tour. They explained the yogurt production process, from milk collection to cup assembly, quality-control checkpoints, storage, and shipment.
“It was incredible to see the scale of production, the size of the warehouse storage, and the speed with which yogurt cups were filled,” noted Gretchen Wittmeyer, CALS agricultural sciences student and Cornell Cooperative Extension and NMSP summer intern.
The NMSP team is working to develop and incentivize use of key sustainability performance indicators for dairy farms. Their partnership with Chobani, local funding organizations, and dairy farmers in New York help the team identify practical strategies that farms can use to improve their nutrient use, mitigate their carbon footprint, and demonstrate progress.
“When Chobani approached me about working together on the dairy sustainability project, I did not hesitate to say yes,” said Quirine Ketterings, NMSP director and professor of nutrient management in the Cornell CALS Department of Animal Science.
Source: cornell.edu
Photo Credit: gettyimages-digitalvision
Categories: New York, Education, Livestock, Dairy Cattle, Sustainable Agriculture